ON THE SYMMETRY OF PERIODIC GRAVITY WATER WAVES

WITH VORTICITY

ANCAVOICHITA MATIOC AND BOGDANVASILE MATIOC

We study the a priori symmetry of periodic gravity water waves with arbitrary many crests and troughs, and general vorticity distributions. We show that if all
the streamlines achieve their global minimum on the same vertical line, then the wave
has exactly one trough and crest within a period, and is symmetric with respect to the
vertical line containing the crest.
Abstract.

1.

Introduction

In this paper we consider planar and periodic water waves traveling at the surface of an
inviscid uid when gravity is the predominant external force acting on the uid. Our main
goal is to study the symmetry properties of such waves.
Garabedian [12] was the rst who proved that irrotational waves having the property
that every streamline has a unique minimum and maximum per period, which is located
beneath the trough and crest, respectively, are symmetric around the crest. The variational
proof was simplied later on in [23]. A further step was made in [22] where it is shown
that irrotational gravity water waves with prole having a unique minimum and maximum
within a period are symmetric. This is a improvement compared to [12], since it is required
that just one streamline, namely the wave itself, has a unique maximum and minimum per
period. The methods used in [22] strongly rely on maximum principles for elliptic problems
and the moving plane method cf. [1, 13].
Concerning gravity water waves with vorticity, it was shown rst in [5] that the condition
posed in [22] enforces the waves to be symmetric for a large class of vorticity functions. In
fact, by using hodograph coordinates, the result was improved in [3] where the symmetry
is established for ows with no stagnation points and arbitrary vorticity functions.
As mentioned in the discussion from Section 3.10 in [22], non-symmetric rotational water
waves, if they exist, are far from trivial solutions and must have several troughs and peaks
within a period. Though, in the context of rotational waves it was recently shown in [9]
that there exists bimodal waves having crests and pecks of dierent sizes. They are found
to exist in the regime of waves with critical layers. In particular, some of the streamlines
are no longer graphs, situation which we exclude in the following.
A symmetry result for waves which are not monotone (having thus several crests within
a period) was proved in [17] under the assumption that the wave possesses a unique global
minimum within a period and all streamlines achieve their global minimum beneath this

2010 Mathematics Subject Classication. Primary: 76B15; Secondary: 76B47, 35B50, 26E05.
Key words and phrases. Symmetry; Real analytic; Gravity water waves; Maximum principles.
1

ANCAVOICHITA MATIOC AND BOGDANVASILE MATIOC

trough. Assuming additionally that the wave prole is monotone near the deepest trough,
the author comes to the same conclusion as in [12].
In this paper we go one step further and weaken the assumptions of [17] by no longer
demanding that the global minimum should be unique within a period. We merely require
that there exists a vertical line where all the streamlines take their global minimum and
monotonicity of the wave proie near this line but just on one side of it. We prove then that
there exists a minimal period such that the wave has within this minimal period exactly
one crest and is symmetric with respect to the vertical line containing the crest. Moreover,
the wave is monotone on either sides of the crest.

Besides elliptic maximum principles,

our result strongly relies on recently established regularity properties for the ow below
the surface of gravity water waves. It was rst established in [6] for gravity waves with
Hlder continuous vorticity, and later on in [21] for waves with bounded vorticity, that
the streamlines beneath the free surface of traveling gravity wave are real analytic. This
powerful regularity result combined with the principle of analytic continuation ensure then
uniqueness of the trough within the minimal period.
The plan of the paper is the following:

in Section 2 we describe the mathematical

problem and transform the free-boundary value problem on a xed rectangle by using the
hodograph coordinates. The main result of the paper, Theorem 3.1 is stated and proved
in Section 3.

Preliminaries

2.

We consider two-dimensional periodic gravity water waves traveling at constant speed

over a homogeneous uid, the

y -axis

x-axis

pointing vertically upwards.

being the direction of wave propagation and the

The bottom of the ocean is assumed to be at and

impermeable. Assuming the uid to be inviscid, the motion of the uid is described by
Euler's equations

ut + uux + vuy = Px ,
vt + uvx + vvy = Py g,

ux + vy = 0,

Hereby

in

d < y < (t, x).

(2.1a)

y = d is the at bottom of the ocean, is the wave prole, (u, v) the velocity eld,
g the gravity constant. System (2.1a) is supplemented by boundary

the pressure, and

conditions on the free surface

= P0 ,

v = t + ux ,

on

y = (t, x),

(2.1b)

and on the at bottom

v=0
We denoted by

P0

on

y = d.

(2.1c)

the pressure of the air, which we assumed to be constant. The second

condition of (2.1b) expresses the fact that the wave surface moves along with the uid. The
last boundary condition (2.1c) is obtained from the assumption of having an ocean with
impermeable bottom. We consider in this paper rotational ows, the vorticity

being in

our setting the scalar function

:= vx uy .

(2.2)

ON THE SYMMETRY OF PERIODIC GRAVITY WATER WAVES WITH VORTICITY

For a detailed discussion concerning the eect of vorticity on steady water waves we refer

c for some
(t, x)-dependence of the wave surface, of the
pressure, and of the velocity eld has the form (x ct), and that P, u, v, and are periodic
in the x-variable with period T > 0. Under this assumption, in a reference frame moving
2
with speed c, the wave is stationary and the ow is steady. We shall impose that C (R)
3
1
an (u, v, P ) (C ( )) , where
to [2]. Problem (2.1) simplies when considering wave trains traveling at speed

c > 0.

To be precise, we assume that the

:= {(x, y) : x R

and

d < y < (x)}

is the uid domain seen from the moving reference frame.

Finally, we assume that the

wave speed exceeds the vertical velocity of each uid particle within the uid domain, that
is

uc<0

in

(2.3)

Condition (2.3) is satised for waves that are not near the breaking state, the propagation
speed of the surface wave being considerably larger than the speed of each individual water
particle, cf. [18, 19].
It is convenient to formulate the water wave problem in terms of the streamfunction
which is given by the relation

(x, y) := m +
d

[u(x, s) c] ds,

(x, y) .

m denotes a positive constant which can be chosen such that = 0 on the wave
y = (x). Indeed, since = (v, u c), one can easily check that x 7 (x, (x))

Here,
top

is a constant function, cf.

[7].

Besides excluding the presence of critical layers consist-

ing of closed streamlines, condition (2.3) enables us to introduce new variables via the
dieomorphism

: := R (m, 0)

with

(x, y) := (q, p)(x, y) = (x, (x, y))

for

(x, y) .

(2.4)

It is then a matter of direct calculation to show, cf. [21] that, in distributional sense, we
have

q ( 1 ) = 0

in

C([m, 0]),
(x, y) .

Consequently, there exists a function

the vorticity function, such that

(x, y) = ((x, y))

Moreover, by Bernoulli's principle, the quantity

(u c)2 + v 2
+ g(y + d) + P +
2

for all

called

(s) ds
0

is constant in the uid body. Particularly, we nd that

||2 + 2g(y + d) = Q
for some constant

Q R.

on

y = (x)

Recalling (2.2), we conclude that

(, )

is a solution of the free

boundary value problem:

||2 + 2g(y + d)

=
=
=
=

()
Q
0
m

in
on
on
on

,
y = (x),
y = (x),
y = d.

(2.5)

ANCAVOICHITA MATIOC AND BOGDANVASILE MATIOC

It is not dicult to see that the vice versa is also true: to any solution
can associate a solution

(, u, v, P )

(, )

of (2.5) one

of problem (2.1), cf. [7].

Before stating our main result, we obtain, as a consequence of (2.3) and the Implicit
Function Theorem, that in the moving frame the streamlines of the uid coincide with the
level curves of streamfunction

y p C 2 (R), p [m, 0],

T periodic functions
(x, y p (x)) = p for all (x, p) .

More precisely, they are graphs of

which are chosen such that

A important tool when dealing with rotational waves without critical layers is the availability of the height function

h:R

which is dened by

(q, p) ,

h(q, p) := y + d,

cf. [3, 6, 7]. Re-expressing system (2.5) in terms of

belongs to the class

h C 2 (),

h,

which is also

T -periodic

in

and

we obtain a quasilinear boundary value problem in the

(1 + h2q )hpp 2hp hq hpq + h2p hqq (p)h3p = 0

1 + h2q + (2gh Q)h2p = 0

h = 0

xed rectangle

in
on
on

,
p = 0,
p = m.

It follows readily from (2.4) that there exists a close relation between

(2.6)

and the functions

parameterizing the streamlines, namely

y p = h(, p) d,

p [m, 0].

(2.7)

Moreover, since

hp =

1
>0
y 1

in

(2.8)

we infer from (2.3) that the quasilinear operator in (2.6)1 is uniformly elliptic.
3.

The main result

Our goal is to prove the following theorem.

Assume that (, ) C 2 (R) C 2 ( ) is a T -periodic solution of the

problem (2.5) and that is not constant. If
(a) y < 0 in ,
(b) there exists x0 R such that all the streamlines achieve their global minimum on
Theorem 3.1.

x = x0 ,

there exists > 0 such that is non-decreasing [resp. non-increasing] on (x0 , x0 +)

[resp. (x0 , x0 )],
then there exists 0 < Te with T /Te N such that Te is the minimal period of (, ) and the
pair (, ) is symmetric with respect to the vertical line x = x0 + Te/2. Moreover, within
this minimal period, possesses a single crest and trough.
Remark 3.2. Due to the invariance of the problem (2.5) with respect to horizontal trans(c)

lations, we shall assume henceforth that

y (0) y (x)
p

x0 = 0.

for all

Then, by

xR

and

(2),

we presupposed that

p [m, 0].

(3.1)

We enhance that our assumptions make no restrictions on the number of crests and
troughs (per period) of the wave.

A priori, they may be even innitely many.

It is a

ON THE SYMMETRY OF PERIODIC GRAVITY WATER WAVES WITH VORTICITY

conclusion of Theorem 3.1 that there exists a minimal period in which the wave has a
unique crest and trough.
In the case when

is a real-analytic function we may omit the assumption (c) of Theorem

3.1. Indeed, it follows from [6] that the wave prole is analytic itself, meaning that the
wave cannot have innitely many crests within a period. Particularly,
in a neighborhood of

must be convex

x0 .

Before proving the main result, we need the following lemma which plays an important
role in our analysis.

It's proof relies on the principle of analytic continuation and the

analyticity of the streamlines beneath the surface of rotational gravity water waves, cf.
[6, 21]. We note that similar regularity properties have been established for deep water
waves [20], gravity-capillarity [15], pure capillarity [14], and stratied water waves [16]
which could provide new symmetry results for such waves additionally to the already
existing ones, cf. [4, 8, 22, 24]. We refer to [10] for a survey on the regularity properties of
traveling water waves.

Let (, ) C 2 (R) C 2 ( ) be as in Theorem 3.1. Moreover, we assume

that there exists a constant Te (0, T ) such that:
e
e
e
(i) (x)
 = (T x) and (x, y) = (T x, y) for all x [0, T ] and y [d, (x)],
(ii) [0, Te/2] is non-decreasing.
Then, T /Te N and (, ) are Teperiodic in x.
Lemma 3.3.

Proof.
(a)

First, we infer from

(, ) C 2 (R) C 2 ( ), C([m, 0])

that the assumptions of Theorem 3.1 in [21] are fullled.

streamlines beneath the wave prole are all real analytic, i.e.
for all

and Theorem 3.1

Whence, we conclude the

yp

are real analytic functions

p [m, 0).

Setting

0 := {(x, y) : x (0, Te)

we let

e and e be

the

Teperiodic
e =

e is a
(e
, )
p
0
(y ) (0) = 0

on

and

functions in the

[0, Te]

and

d < y < (x)},

x

variable with

e =

in

0 .

We claim that

further solution of (2.5) having the same regularity as

Indeed, since

and

by dierentiation with respect

(x, y p (x)) = p for all p [m, 0]

to the variable x that

x (0, y p (0)) = (y p )0 (0)y (0, y p (0)) = 0

for all

and

x R,

(, ).

we obtain

p [m, 0].

x (0, y) = 0 for all y [d, (0)], and therefore we also have xy (0, y) = 0
e C 2 (R)C 2 (e) is a solution of (2.5) which also saty [d, (0)]. Whence, (e
, )

Consequently,
for all

ises the assumptions of Theorem 3.1 in [21]. We obtain then that the streamlines beneath
this wave are real analytic too. Since they coincide in

yp,

with the curves parametrized by

we infer from the principle of analytic continuation that

(k Te, 0) + 0 = {(x, y) : x (k Te, (k + 1)Te)

for all

k N.

This completes our argument.

T /Te N

and

and

0 < y < (x)}



ANCAVOICHITA MATIOC AND BOGDANVASILE MATIOC

Besides Lemma 3.3, the proof of Theorem 3.1 is based on the elliptic maximum principles

presented in Lemma 3.4. These principles proved very useful also when establishing the
symmetry of gravity waves possessing a single crest and trough per period, cf. [3, 5, 22].

Let R2 be an open rectangle and H C 2 () satisfy LH = 0 for some

uniformly elliptic operator L = aij ij + bi i with continuous coecients in . Then the
following hold.
(i) The strong maximum principle: If H attains its maximum (minimum) in , then
H is constant in .
(ii) Hopf's maximum principle: Let Q be a point on , dierent from the corners of
the rectangle . If H(Q) > H(X) [resp. H(Q) < H(X)] for all X in , then
Lemma 3.4.

H(Q) 6= 0.

Serrin's edge-point lemma: Let Q be a corner point of such that H(Q) > H(X)
[resp. H(Q) < H(X)] for all X in . Suppose also that a12 (Q) = a21 (Q) = 0.
Then, at least one of the rst or second order partial derivatives of H does not
vanish at Q.

(iii)

Proof.

Before proving Theorem 3.1, let us observe that, given

(0, y) (x, y) 0
(x, y) = p [0, m].
3.1 (a), we obtain (3.2).

Indeed, let
Theorem

Proof of Theorem 3.1.

that

For the proof see Theorem 2.13, Lemma 2.12, and Theorem E.8 in [11].

Then,

for all

y [d, (0)],

we have

x R.

y = y p (x) y p (0)

(3.2)

by Theorem 3.1

(b).

We shall assume throughout this proof that there exists

is non-decreasing on

[0, ]

Invoking

> 0 such
(c) can

(the other case which may occur in Theorem 3.1

be treated similarly). Therefore, the reection

of the domain

:= {(x, y) : x (0, ), y (d, (x))}

with respect to the vertical line

x=

is, for small

> 0,

still a subset of

(see Figure

??). We dene now

:= max{ > 0 : R
}.
Then, is necessarily non-decreasing on [0, ] and one of the following three alternatives
must occur:

Case 1: = T /2;
Case 2: < T /2 and has a rst local maximum at x = ;
Case 3: < T /2 and the reected prole intersects the graph of

tangentially,

cf. Figure ??. We shall consider these three cases separately.

Case 1:

We assume that

= T /2

and dene the function

H : [0, ] [m, 0] R

by

setting

First, we

p = m

H(q, p) := h(q, p) h(2 q, p),

observe that H 0 on the boundary
the assertion follows readily from

(q, p) [0, ] [m, 0].

of [0, ] [m, 0]. Indeed, on q = and
the denition of H and (2.6)3 , respectively,

ON THE SYMMETRY OF PERIODIC GRAVITY WATER WAVES WITH VORTICITY

while, by the periodicity of

p [m, 0].

h,

we obtain that

H(0, p) = h(0, p) h(2, p) = 0

7
for all

Moreover, we have

H(q, 0) = h(q, (q, (q))) h(2 q, (2 q, (2 q))) = (q) (2 q)

for all

q R.

H 0 on the last boundary component p = 0.

(q, p) 7 h(2 q, p) is also a solution of (2.6), we get that

This shows that

Furthermore, since

(1 + h2q )Hpp 2hp hq Hpq + h2p Hqq + b1 Hq + b2 Hp = 0

with functions

bi , i = 1, 2,

in

[0, ] [m, 0],

(3.3)

given by

b1 (q, p) :=(hq (q, p) + hq (2 q, p))hpp (2 q, p) + 2hp (q, p)hpq (2 q, p);

b2 (q, p) :=(hp (p, q) hp (2 q, p))hqq (2 q, p) 2hq (2 q, p)hpq (2 q, p)
(p)(h2p (p, q) + hp (p, q)hp (2 q, p) + h2p (2 q, p))
for

(q, p) .
H is not constant, then,
(q, p) (0, ) (m, 0). On the boundary, the
By assumption (b) of Theorem 3.1, we know that

We are thus in a situation when we may apply Lemma 3.4. If

maximum is

(i), H(q, p) < 0 for

taken at H(0, 0) = 0.

hq (0, 0) = 0,

and we infer from Serrin's edge-point lemma that at least one of the rst

by Lemma 3.4

all

H is not vanishing at (0, 0). However, it is easy to see that

(0, 0). Furthermore, h(, p) has a global minimum at q = 0, cf.
(2.7) and (3.1). Whence, hq (0, p) = 0 for all p [m, 0], and particularly hqp (0, p) = 0 for
such p. Recalling that = T /2, we nd, due to the periodicity of h, that Hq = Hqp = 0
at (0, 0). This is in contradiction with the fact that H is not constant.
or second order derivatives of

Hp = Hqq = Hpp = 0

at

Summarizing, we have shown that

h(q, p) = h(2 q, p)
Particularly, we obtain from (2.7) that
meaning that the streamlines are all
assertion in the

Case 2:
Case 1,

Case 1 (with Te = T ).

for all

(q, p) [0, ] [m, 0].

y p (x) = y p (2x) for all x [0, ] and p [m, 0],

symmetric with respect to x = . This proves the

We consider once more the function

H : [0, ] [m, 0] R

introduced in the

and see that it satises the same uniformly elliptic equation (3.3). Moreover, by

H(0, p) = h(0, p) h(2, p) 0 for all p [m, 0] and previous

considerations show that H 0 on the boundary of [0, ] [m, 0]. Then, either H = 0
or H < 0 in (0, ) (m, 0).
If the latter case occurs, then, because of H(, 0) = 0, we apply Serrin's edge point
lemma to the edge (, 0). This is possible due to the fact that q = is a local maximum
of , meaning that hq (, 0) = 0, and the coecients of the mixed second order derivatives
in (3.3) vanish at (, 0). As in the previous case, it follows easily that Hq = Hp = Hqq =
Hpp = 0 at (, 0). Moreover, from the second equation of (2.6), we nd, by dierentiating
with respect to q , that
(2.7) and (3.1), we have

hq hqq + (2gh Q)hp hpq + ghq h2p = 0

which implies, cf. (2.8), that
lemma ensures that

H 0.

on

p = 0,

hpq (0, 0) = 0. Whence, Hpq (, 0) = 0, and Serrin's edge point

p
p
This is equivalent to saying that y (x) = y (2 x) for all

ANCAVOICHITA MATIOC AND BOGDANVASILE MATIOC

x [0, ] and p [m, 0]. Thus, the assumptions of Lemma 3.3 are fullled, and the claim
e = 2.
of Theorem 3.1 is true with T

Case 3:

In this last case, we denote by

(x0 , (x0 )), with x0 [0, ], a point (it is not unique

since the wave may possess several crests and troughs within a period) which is reected

(x0 ) = (2 x0 ) and 0 (x0 ) = 0 (2 x0 ). The situation

when x0 = has been studied in Case 2. Let us now assume that x0 [0, ). As in the
previous case, the function H satises (3.3), H 0 on the boundary of [0, ] [m, 0],

back on the wave surface, i.e.

and moreover

H(x0 , 0) = h(x0 , 0) h(2 x0 , 0) = (x0 ) (2 x0 ) = 0.

If

x0 = 0, then we obtain, by using Serrin's edge point lemma as in the Case 1, that H 0.
x0 (0, ), then we to prove that

If on the other hand

H(x0 , 0) = 0.
Indeed, since

H = Hp ,

we get from (2.8) that

Hp (x0 , 0) = hp (x0 , 0) hp (2 x0 , 0) =
However, since

1
1
+
.
y (x0 , (x0 )) y (2 x0 , (2 x0 ))

x (x, (x)) = 0 (x)y (x, (x))

and

0 (x0 ) = 0 (2 x0 ),

we nd from

Bernoulli's law

(1 + 02 (x0 )) y2 (x0 , (x0 )) y2 (2 x0 , (2 x0 )) = 2g((2 x0 ) (x0 )) = 0,

Hp (x0 , 0) = 0. Hopf 's principle guarantees that H 0 and therefore y p (x) =

y p (2x) for all x [0, ] and p [m, 0]. The assumptions of Lemma 3.3 being satised,
e = 2) and this completes the proof. 
the desired assertion follows at once (in this case T
meaning that

Acknowledgements
A.-V. Matioc was supported by the FWF Project I544 N13 Lagrangian kinematics of
water waves of the Austrian Science Fund.

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Institut fr Mathematik, Universitt Wien, Nordbergstrasse 15, 1090 Wien, sterreich.

E-mail address : anca.matioc@univie.ac.at

E-mail address : bogdan-vasile.matioc@univie.ac.at